We have all heard about them. We all know where they come from. But I can attest that I have seen one. This one was limping a bit so he was not fast enough to escape my camera. A few weeks ago, the Northern Lights were out in force. Nothing was forecast, no warning emails in my inbox, nothing. Yet, some indicators showed that it might be one heck of a show.

So I called a friend of mine and told him what could be for the night. As usual, he was game for this and we set out to the north. The north-north was packed with one big band of heavy clouds. As usual, was my thought. However, to the east, the clouds seemed to be going from less to nonexistent.

A few weeks ago, the inevitable happened. I found myself in a place where most people don’t want to be. A place where atrocities and unwanted intimacies were committed without much extra punishment. The local jail. My particular crime to end up in there? Curiosity, nothing more, nothing less. Innocent as a baby, just like everyone else in there.

Open Doors Winnipeg has made the Vaughan Street Jail a star attraction. A place I have always wanted to see, but somehow always missed. This year, however, it was jail time for me.

Anybody who knows me, will know that vodka and me do not agree with each other. Pour me one shot of vodka and I will feel miserable for the rest of the day. No, vodka is really not my thing. However, walking around in a facility where vodka is made is a whole different ball game. I’ll bring my camera and try (without much success) to keep myself from shooting involuntary selfies.

One such outing was a few weeks ago, to the Capital K Distillery in Winnipeg.

Over the years I have shot a lot of pictures. Many of which would not pass today’s muster. When I started with a small Point and Shoot, all my pictures were important. Every. Single. One. Unless they were completely blurred and unrecognisable. Fun fact for pictures taken with a point and shoot: 99% of the pictures are usable. Or so it seems. Then I bought my first DSLR, back in 2008. I had been shooting with this type of camera for years during the 70’s and 80’s but had not had a chance for a long time.

My first setting on the D40X was… Auto. It seemed like the best transition between my Coolpix and my new, shiny, beautiful, professional camera. Don’t get me wrong folks, everyone who buys a DSLR as an upgrade from a point and shoot feels himself or herself an immediate pro, ready to shoot weddings and put Joe McNally out of business.

Once in a while we need to either blow off some steam by exploding in a party, a nightclub or something similar. Or we need to blow off that steam by going to a completely quiet environment and stay there until the blood pressure is down a few points. I’m not much of a party guy, so the latter solution is more for me. Having been under some stress and tension for the last few weeks/months/years, I decided to go to a quiet place, shoot some birds or landscapes or whatever.

Just relax and see what happens. The area in question is not that far away from Winnipeg and has quite a few surprises, even to those who have been there before.

One of the difficulties with photographing wildlife lies in the fact that wildlife doesn’t like us, humans. We can’t blame them, in all parts of the world wildlife is being persecuted, shot and / or eaten. Often enough just killed as a nuisance or for “sport”. We would become more paranoid too, if humans were the subject of being killed on a systematic basis.But since (for now) we are at the top of the food chain, all the other animals will try to avoid us at all cost.

Parking my car about a hundred meters away from a group of ducks, made them quietly swim away in the opposite direction. By the time I was out of the car and ready to photograph them, they were making me wish for a telescope instead of a powerful zoom lens.

For some it seems long ago, but a few days ago we had a nice weekend with warm weather. Too warm for the season, as it turned out. It wouldn’t stay that way for long. Long enough for a nice day out at the beach, though. We didn’t go with the intention of bathing or even sun tanning, but with the idea of shooting some wildlife and spending a lazy afternoon with a book.

The book was for my wife, the shooting was my part. The beach in question was Grand Beach, situation on the south-eastern side of Lake Winnipeg.

Of course that’s the Prairie Crocus. Manitoba’s Provincial Flower and harbinger of spring. So before you all start thinking that I am some kind of a biology wizard, I have enlisted the help of the Internet for this post to make sure I am not blabbering about things I know nothing about. There is already enough of that around.